iCT Education : Take's 5 and let's learn
Bits and Bytes:
The Language of Computers
The Language of Computers
Lets learn about
computer language. Guys do you know that
computer has it own language in other to communicate with the system?To process
data into information, computers need to work in a language they understand. This
language, called binary language, consists of just two digits: 0 and 1. This
works like a light switch where it is either on or off.Everything a computer
does is broken down into a series of 0s and 1s. Each 0 and 1 is a binary digit,
or bit for short. Eight binary digits
(or bits) combine to create 1 byte. In
computers, each letter of the alphabet, each number, and each special character
(such as the @ sign) consists of a unique combination of 8 bits, or a string of
eight 0s and 1s. For an example, a capital letter K has a different string of
0s and 1s than a lowercase letter k, for instance. As it turns out, if 8 bits
are put together, there are 256 possible combinations. That number of
combinations allows for a code that can include all the uppercase and lowercase
letters of the alphabet, all 10 digits, punctuation marks, and many other
much-used symbols. We call these 8 bits working together a byte. Bytes are the
basic measurement for storage in a computer.
i bet you didnt know about this language right? well welcome to ICT world ;-P
But is it language? The machine code flips the states of transistors in a CPU but does the CPU actually understand anything? Check out chapter 10 of the 2nd edition of The Art of Electronics by Horowitz and Hill.
ReplyDeletevon Neumann machines are really dumb.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dg96tefnEU